Hi, my name is Ramla Zareen. I am a beta reader and an aspiring author of light-hearted Romantic fiction. This blog was initiated by me but I now share it with Maha, my best friend and a beauty blogger, and it includes topics relevant to perfumes, beauty, wellness and lifestyle. Currently both of us are on a temporary break from this blog but visitors are always welcome to browse around. Thanks!

Monday, December 8, 2014

THE COURSE OF TRUE LOVE NEVER DID RUN SMOOTH (By Ramla Zareen)

Not everyone may be familiar with these words of Shakespeare, but almost all of us would have surely experienced them. No matter how deep and sincere our love may be, but it's true that ups and downs come in every relationship.

The important thing is that we overcome the hurdles, move on from the bad phase, and learn valuable lessons as we hopefully move forward, with our positive emotions reinforced and relationships strengthened, to better times.Here I would like to share few of the rough phases during my love affair with perfumes.

Fragrance Notes:Top: Black cherry, Bergamot, Red berries and Almond. Heart: Bulgarian rose, Turkish rose, Licorice and Smoked black tea. Base: Aniseed, Tonka bean, Vanilla, Iris and Patchouli.Not so long ago, I was going through a phase, when I only wanted sweet fruity fragrances.Two of my favourite fruit notes were, and still are, strawberries and cherries. Happy to learn about a perfume that smelled strongly of cherries, I was eager to try it. So at the first opportunity I generously sprayed it three times on my wrist.I had often heard that vices like greed and recklessness never go unpunished and at that moment I found out for myself. As I nearly threw up from the most overpowering, thick, jammy, sickening, cloying, and dangerously sweet fragrance that assailed me. For someone who had up till that moment had always insisted that nothing was too sweet, it was a stunning blow. Right on the head. Since that was the part of me that hurt the most. After about half an hour, just when I thought that the fragrance was beginning to subside into a slightly less sweet version of cherry scent, another note entered into it that increased my urge to be violently sick. Words fail me, and I really don't know quite how to describe the odour. Well, let me try. Imagine stale and overused, yet still strong, tea leaves in an extremely sweet cherry jam...On second thought, just forget it. I only wish that I could...!I washed and scrubbed my hands, till I used up almost all the liquid soap in the container, but to no avail.All night my head pounded in protest. Even my nose rebelled by partially closing it's nostrils. Yet I could not stop that nauseating odour from nearly suffocating me. By the next day, when I was beginning to worry that I would be stuck with it for ever, it started fading and by the end of about 18 hours after application, it was finally gone.Well, not really.I realize that it's purely psychological, but even now, all it takes is one accidental glance at the bottle at the perfume store, for me to begin smelling that sickening odour, and my head starts aching as I resist the urge to be violently ill...!Lesson learned: It's good to be brave, but there are times when it's better to be cautious. It's okay to have dreams and set goals in life, and work hard to to achieve them. However, we also need to exercise self-control to prevent our ambitions extend to greed.

One day, happily clutching a bag containing my latest perfume purchase, I was idly checking out various perfumes before heading out of the store. It was probably due to the feeling of joy and contentment of getting one of my favourite perfumes at such a great deal that made me a bit lax and I deviated from my rule of never trying an unknown perfume on my skin. In other words, the devil, taking advantage of my lack of vigilance, tempted me, and I fell into its trap.In any case, three sprays later, the devil, emitting an odour of thick, heavy vanilla combined with piles and piles of dirty rotten flowers, clung to my wrist and invaded my senses. Feeling nauseous I tried to fight back by spraying over it every strong and powerful perfume that I could get hold of, while a couple of sales women gave me weird looks. But the devil continued to drift through effortlessly, stronger and more powerful than every other fragrance, torturing me, and taunting me, for my futile endeavour to escape him. Half dragging my protesting daughter, I practically ran from the mall to my home, the devil relentlessly pursuing me throughout the way. I covered the usual 10 minutes walk at about half the time, yet it still seemed like an eternity. The whole day I must have washed my hands countless times but the devil refused to go away. However, the next day dawned early, after a mostly restless night, and I was greatly relieved to know that I had finally managed to get rid of the devil. Forever. Since I vowed to myself that I would never even go near either this perfume or any of its flankers, ever again. Catching sight of the shopping bag containing my new perfume, further cheered me up, and I eagerly took the perfume out of the bag to put it with my fragrance collection. As I was doing so, a small sample of perfume, that one usually gets free with every purchase, fell out of the bag on to the floor. I picked it up and froze in shock.It was 'Angel' by Thierry Mugler. Lesson learned: The devil will always be around, in various guises, and will avail the slightest opportunity, to lead us astray. It's up to us to employ faith and strength in order to resist it's temptation, fight it's cunning, and be sure to never give it a chance to corrupt and misguide us into actions that would cause us harm.PLAYING HIDE & SEEK WITH DAISYDaisy By Marc Jacobs (2007)

A friend recommended this when I requested names of good fruity-floral perfumes, preferably containing strawberry note. Thorough internet research revealed wonderful fragrance notes and glowing reviews. So it was with high hopes that I trotted over to the shopping mall near our home to check it out. First I tried it at the tester card. It smelled pleasant enough but it was too light and vague for me to be able to gauge it well. So I finally sprayed it on my wrist. For the first half an hour or so my wrist smelled only of ...grass...! And not scented grass or dewy grass or fresh grass. It was just very sharp...grass...! Not really an offensive odour. But you know, nothing that I would want to smell like. Definitely nothing I would pay to smell like...! But then, after 30 minutes or so, hope started to stir within me as a faint flowery and even a fainter fruity smell begin to mingle with the ever present smell of...grass...! Till 10 to 15 minutes afterwards I roamed around the mall, sniffing my wrist like crazy, and my little daughter, thinking maybe that I am playing some sort of a game, began imitating me, and started sniffing her wrist like crazy too...! While the people around us probably thought that we were both truly crazy...! Anyway, I waited and hoped that the fruity-floral smell would deepen and eventually dominate over the smell of grass but it survived only maximum 15 minutes. Then my wrist went back to smelling just like...grass...! Then about 10 to 15 minutes after that Daisy vanished from hand, leaving behind memories of...grass...! I guess, in the light of the previous two experiences, it would be unfair to label this incidence as 'bad' since nothing awful really happened. The reason I consider this a part of the negative aspect of my love affair with perfumes, is because I think it's unfortunate that I am unable to smell, what according to the fragrance notes and users reviews, must truly be a delightful perfume. However, something good did come out of the experience, that is, it made me fully appreciate all those wonderful fragrances that I am able to smell...!Lesson learned: There are things that may be good for others but they are not meant for us. Instead of wasting time on regretting them, we should accept it and focus on the positive aspects of our own life.THE END, WITH APOLOGY

I would like to conclude by sincerely apologising to all the people who either created these perfumes or those who enjoy wearing them. Liking or disliking a specific fragrance depends on various factors such as personal taste and preference (which is different for every individual), age, weather conditions, skin type, skin chemistry, health, hormonal balances, stress level etc etc etc. I am willing to concede to the possibility that the reason for my negative experiences with these perfumes weren't because these fragrances are bad, maybe it was just me who was unable to properly appreciate them.NOTE: Those interested to read more of my rough phases during My Love Affair With Perfumes, along with the new lessons learned, are welcome to do so by clicking... here...! Thanks

Lolz ;-) Yes...! Well, actually, as I mentioned, that was the 'least bad' experience, as compared to the other two...! At the time of suffering through either 'la petite' or 'angel', I would have definitely paid to get rid of both of those fragrances...! ;-)

ABOUT ME

Hi, my name is Ramla Zareen and I was born on 23rd January, 1984. I am originally from Pakistan but have been settled in Germany since 2006, where I live with my husband and daughter, and am now officially a German national.

Reading and writing are my most favourite pastimes and I am happiest when immersed in the wonderful world of fiction.My favourite genres to read are Golden-Age Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Historical Romance, Contemporary Romance, Romantic Comedy and Chick-Lit.

These days I am writing a light-hearted Romantic novella, in the hope that it will give at least half as much pleasure to others as the books by my favourite authors have given me.

It's always a pleasure to become friends with those who share my love for books so please feel free to connect with me, thanks! :-)